If you’re wanting your cold rooms to run efficiently, protect your products, and stand the test of time then you need to manage your cold room effectively. The best way to manage this is through cold room management.
Proper cold room management is the easiest and most economical way to extend the lifetime of your cold room fridge or freezer and can take several forms.
But what do our experts at MTCSS suggest for cold room best practices?
Manage Your Cold Room Operations
Cold room protocol should be clearly explained to all staff members during training and displayed (where possible) for agency staff or new starters, who may need reminders on how to operate in a cold room.
Without specific guidance on cold room operations, accidents and injuries, stock wastage, or damage to the cold room fridge or freezer can occur – wasting time and money.
Cold room protocol can include (but isn’t limited to):
- How to add and remove stock from your cold room, especially if a signature is required
- What machinery or tools can be used within the cold room, for example, ladders, step stools, or forklifts
- Staff ratios for specific tasks within the cold room
- Emergency procedures, including, how to deal with spills and breakages, accidents, and injuries, and how to operate the emergency door release if staff becoming trapped within
- Health and safety information relating to manual handling and PPE requirements
It is important to personalise the guidance for your cold room freezer and cold room fridges to ensure both industry and cold room protocols are adhered to, and that the guidance is rigorous and helpful for employees – hopefully reducing the number of incidents that occur!
Keep Your Cold Room Clean and Well Maintained
To stop accidents, maximise the life expectancy of your cold room, and ensure your business operations remain unaffected, the cleanliness of your cold room fridge or freezer should be well maintained at all times.
Routine cleaning and maintenance schedules should be generated with the staff responsible and should include all daily, weekly, and monthly tasks needed for your specific cold room and stock.
Examples of these cold room maintenance and cleaning tasks can include:
Daily Tasks
- Keep cold room floors and surfaces clean and clear of dirt or dust
- Clean up any spillages right away
- Remove any waste and rubbish
- Check if the cold room temperature is correct / your refrigeration system is working effectively
- Organise your stock and check for expired goods (to prevent spoilage as well as loss of products)
Weekly Tasks
- Clean cold room door furniture. Including, cold room door gaskets, cold room door handles, and hinges as well as checking for any signs of damage
- Clean the external cold room walls and any power points and switches
- Clean and sanitise the internal cold room walls, ceilings and light fittings
- Sanitise and wash the shelves/racking (if applicable to your cold room application)
- Use cold-room-specific cleaning products for the surfaces and cold room floors
- Organise your stock and discard as necessary
Monthly Tasks
- Check the temperature of your cold room when in normal use and fully stocked (to get an accurate reading)
- Clean refrigeration systems, equipment and cold room parts, including the evaporator (and casing), condensing unit, fans, etc
It is also good practice to invest in a cold room condition report, which assesses how your cold room envelopes are performing, presenting you with an idea on the overall condition of your cold room and improvements that you can make to increase cold room efficiency. To learn more about cold room condition reports read our blog here.
Maximise Cold Room Space With Efficient Storage Solutions
Cold rooms maintain low temperatures and can produce a build-up of moisture. However, if you don’t have sufficient cold room shelving to suit and organise your cold room application then you could face rust and ruined/waterlogged products.
All cold room shelving should be easy to use and accessible for the staff using it. For example, if your cold room shelving solutions are tall, then step stools should be provided.
Similarly, any cold room shelving solutions should be clearly labelled with reusable labels to ensure goods can be accessed as quickly as needed, as well as helping to prevent any cross-contamination – which is especially important within food and drink industries that must adhere to health and safety regulations.
Well-organised shelving also helps with stock rotation – which is essential for keeping your products in the best condition, as it helps to ensure out-of-date stock is not used, and stock is not over or under-ordered.
Successful cold room cleaning and maintenance is the only way to keep your cold room freezer or fridge running as it should – and our top tips should make it easier than ever and help with cold room best practices.
However, if you require any more help with cold room refurbishment and maintenance contact MTCSS today – we offer a full cold room maintenance service which allows you to keep your cold room in the best condition, with minimal fuss.
Call us on 01886 833 381 ,send us an email at sales@mtcss.flywheelsites.com or fill in an enquiry form below and our experts will be in touch to see how we can help benefit your business.
